UPDATE – Game Picker UX Enhancement
I’ve furthered the UX enhancement to the Game Picker 9000. First I centered the loader and positioned it below the title output container. Previously it was jammed on top with no padding. If you searched more than once, the loader popped in awkwardly. The new alignment is more pleasing. I also added the player’s username to the introductory text over the game selection. It’s a minor aesthetic change, but it enabled me to get deeper into the API’s functionality. Then I hit another wall…
UX Enhancement Hurdles
This time, I dug into the GetPlayerSummaries method, which returns player profile data like the handle, avatars, and profile URL. So now I’m performing two different API calls, one to GetOwnedGames and one to GetPlayerSummaries. I’m not sure if it’s possible to combine the calls. The data is quite compartmentalized.
I’d like to be able to let people search by their handle rather than their Steam ID. The numbers are obnoxious and impossible to remember offhand. Upon investigating the Steam Web API further, however, it appears you always need the ID first before you can get at the API that contains the handle or “personaname” as Steam calls it. I may just need to do more reading, but at this point I’m a bit stumped.